3 replies to this topic

[poppavein]

Thought you might be interested in this story.  It's Local News here ;)

 

http://mynorthwest.c...ten-b-17-crash/

 

 

[Captain_Underpants53]

Way cool!  THX

[poppavein]

Several times Boeing has gone all in on a new airplane, like the 747 and the 707.

 

This is one of the reasons why the Boeing President was so mad at Tex Johnston when he did the barrel roll in the 707.  Nobody knew he was going to do it and if he crashed it would have been the end of Boeing.  Remember, this is not an acrobatic plane, so it had to be a 1G roll to keep the fuel at the bottom of the tanks.

 

Edited by poppavein, 31 October 2018 - 11:05 PM.

[HazeGrayUnderway]

With history as we know it know, B-17 looked like a workhorse and winner but it had problems early on.  Even with the advent of the war, the RAF got some badly needed bombers... B-17s.  But it had a lot of problems for them that they eventually relegated them to maritime duties.  It would take years of mass sorties against Axis powers, years of blood loss for this plane to earn its reputation that it has now.

Boeing has come a long way, though.  It's an aerospace giant both in civil and military affairs.  Probably too much pull in military contracts today...